Oh my God! I think I got it! Okay, so I had key points of the story thought out, but I was struggling to actually connect the points. After giving it a ton of thought, I started changing up the ideas a little, and BAM! Inspiration! I think I got it now. Of course I finally come up with something AFTER I say this story's gonna be on hiatus. Groan…
I'm not going to be able to add chapters as quickly. I now have ANOTHER story to work on, as well as papers for classes I really shouldn't be procrastinating on. I WILL TRY to update as frequently as possible; just don't be upset if I take a few weeks to get something out.
I don't own Left 4 Dead. If I did, (insert pun here). (:
What Lurks in Darkness
Chapter 9: Reflections in the Mirror
Hunter's POV
…
What's wrong with me..?
Sitting inside of an old abandoned building, I keep thinking about what happened.
What happened?
I can't figure that out. Every time I try to, I start getting another migraine. The one I got when I was about to claw that woman was so bad, I couldn't stand it. I had to run away. It still hurts a little, but not nearly as bad as at that moment.
I put my clawed hands in the pockets of my blue jeans, and I feel the familiar objects that were in there after I turned. I can remember what they are, but I don't really remember what they DO. A wallet in my right pocket, and a cell phone in my left pocket. In the pocket in my hoodie I remembered there was a container that held a pair of glasses. I remember that some of the humans wore then over their eyes…to help them see? Yeah, that felt right. I guess my eyesight wasn't very good, even before the infection…
Another small twinge of pain went through my head. I hate that! It seems like every time I try to think of the past, I get a migraine…
Realizing I've gone off my train of thought, I returned back to the thoughts of that woman. The strange human who sent strange thoughts and feelings through me. Who makes my head hurt, like I'm trying to remember something. How COULD she give me a headache like that…
Somewhere in my head, I can feel gears turning. Something…I'm close to thinking of something-something important…
She…couldn't do that…unless…unless…unless? OUCH!
Another hot wave of pain went through my head. Forget it! I don't care! Whatever's going on, it's not worth another migraine.
The gears of my mind slowing down to a standstill, I can't help but sulk a little. I was so close to remembering…something…
Xxx
After a while, I decided to see if I could still find the group of humans. Inhaling deeply, I catch a good whiff of their scents. Deciding it would be better if I kept my distance for a little while, I decided to explore the building I was in. It had clothes lines up in racks all over the place. It must have been a clothing store.
I wandered around, not really looking for anything in particular. I stopped when I saw something move in my peripheral vision. Someone was right next to me, and I hadn't even noticed!
I turned abruptly to face my assailant, and at the exact same moment he turned to face me. It was another one of my kind! A hunter! I screeched angrily at it, but then I noticed something strange. The other hunter opened its mouth to screech at the exact same time, but I only heard one shout…and now the hunter looked confused. He probably looked as confused as I felt…
Feeling like a complete idiot, I realized I was looking in a mirror.
Groaning at my own stupidity, I looked back at the mirror. Now that I think about it, I haven't actually looked at myself ever since I turned. I have no idea what I look like.
What I see in the reflection almost scared me. I looked…almost human. I know hunters look the least infected compared to the other infected, but it shocked me to see just how human I looked. If you ignored the bloody claws and the pale, almost gray skin, I looked pretty normal. I opened my mouth and saw the large, pointed teeth in there. I even had fangs! It's strange how little I actually knew about my own body.
Looking back at my body, I saw that the dark gray hoodie I was wearing was torn and shredded in so many places, I'm surprised it doesn't fall right off my body. It looked like the hoodie had a picture of a skull on the front, but it was so filthy and torn, I wasn't certain. Turning around, I saw another skull on the back. Blood soaked almost every inch, making it hard to even tell the hoodie is gray.
My jeans were fairly normal, other than the poor condition they were in. I noted the pieces of duct tape on the sleeves of my hoodie and on my pant legs. I've noticed the tape on other hunters and always wondered why they were there...
I looked around for any of the disgusting blemishes that the other infected had, and was surprised when I couldn't find any on me. I've rarely been close enough to look at another hunter to notice if they have those blemishes, as well, but I'm almost certain I've seen a few of the boils on the arms and legs of the other hunters. Oh, well. I shouldn't complain. Guess I'm just lucky.
I then looked at my face. Well, I looked at my mouth, the hood covered the rest. I slowly pulled the hood down to get a look at my face. So THAT'S what my face looks like under my hood…
The only strange things about my face (other than the teeth in my mouth) were my eyes. They were incredibly bloodshot, so much so that the whites of my eyes looked black. My irises looked like they might have been blue, but a yellowish tint made it hard to tell.
I had shaggy dark-brown hair that looked almost black from all the grime. I noticed I had a little patch of hair on my chin, as well.
Pulling my hood back up, I decided to rest here for the night.
Steve's POV
We've been walking in silence for a while now. We haven't spoken about the incident at all, even though I really want to ask. Back when that last horde came, when I ran after Phil when the smoker got him. I managed to stop the smoker from making Phil his next meal, but the horde got to us shortly after that. That's when I realized Sarah wasn't with us. I was worried something may have gotten to her while I was helping Phil. Against my better judgment (and Phil's curses), I ran through the crowd of infected, looking for her.
Obviously, I got pretty beat up, but I didn't really notice any pain until the last infected was killed. I then noticed the fairly large gash on my arm, and I had to limp a little because I twisted my ankle in the struggle. I still ignored all of this because I still couldn't find Sarah anywhere.
Fearing for the worst, I shouted her name, hoping that wouldn't attract MORE infected to us. After a couple seconds she called back, and I let out the breath I didn't even know I was holding.
After that relief, however, I was left with confusion. She was on the roof of an apartment building! How did she get up there!
We met up with her in the apartment, and we've been traveling in silence since.
I kept glancing over at Sarah. She had a faraway look on her face. She was definitely troubled by something…
That made me look to her shoulders. Her jacket had claw marks on both of her shoulders, like something had…pinned her down…like a hunter.
I kept thinking about what Sarah was saying earlier about a hunter following us. Maybe I should have listened to her…
I look over when I see movement in my peripheral vision. I instantly calmed down when I realized the movement was my reflection in a window.
I paused to get a better look at myself. My green polo shirt was a mess, covered in gore and ripped up in places. My blue jeans were dirty and ripped up, as well. There were holes where my knees were from falling and scraping against the pavement. I took my glasses off; they were so dirty, I could see better with them off, anyway. I noticed I needed to shave; patches of hair were growing in. I hated how I never seemed to grow a full beard…
Sighing, I moved away from the window, catching up to the others. After a few minutes, we spotted the next safe house.
Phil's POV
Even after we went into the safe house (an actual house, for once; not the crappy little safe rooms we usually ended up in), we still didn't say anything. I'm sure we all had the same thought in our heads: the hunter. I saw the claw marks on her shoulders. That and the fact that she had somehow ended up on top of an apartment, added up to one conclusion; we ARE being followed by a hunter. A pretty damn smart one, from what Sarah's been describing…
After sitting in the living room for a while, Sarah got up and headed towards the bathroom. "I'm going to see if the shower still works," was all she said before closer the door behind her.
I sighed. We had to talk about our little hunter problem eventually, even if I didn't want to. I felt bad for not believing Sarah. I had pushed her concerns aside, thinking that the stress was finally getting to her. But she was right; there was a hunter after us. She was right all along…
Sighing again, I sat down on the couch in the living room. I couldn't push away my guilt. I hadn't believed her. I hadn't TRUSTED her. No wonder she was so distant from us now. She must feel horrible; first she loses her boyfriend, now the only people she has left in the world don't trust her.
I made a silent vow to always believe what she says, no matter how crazy it sounds.
Xxx
I began looking around the safe house. I could hear the shower on in the bathroom; I guess it DOES have running water. Maybe even HOT water.
As I was thinking about the possibility of having a warm shower, I spotted a mirror hanging in one of the hallways. I walked over to it. What I saw surprised me.
I looked ten years older, noticing the bags under my eyes. And my hair…I didn't have gray hair before the infection. I was only 41, for Christ's sake! Yet there it was, peppered in with my brown hair. It even grew in with my beard! I also was in desperate need of a shave; my beard was getting too bushy for my preference. I was starting to look like some sort of mountain man.
The red sweater I was wearing was pretty beat up, but then again, it was pretty beat up to start with. I really shouldn't have worn this to work, not when it was a birthday present from Anna.
Suddenly fighting back tears, I closed my eyes.
Please be okay.
Pushing the thoughts out of my head, I moved back into the living room, waiting for Sarah to get out of the shower so we can talk.
Sarah's POV
OH MY GOD! IT EVEN HAS HOT WATER!
I relaxed in the shower, feeling better than I had felt since Al – in a long time. Suddenly feeling sad again, I hurried up with my shower, stepping out feeling refreshed, even if I was still upset. I looked over at my clothes; they were filthy! But there weren't any towels in here, and I hadn't thought to look for some new clothes. Sighing, I filled up the sink and placed my clothes in there. After several minutes of scrubbing, they were finally clean enough for me to wear, even if they were wet. Ringing out as much water as I could from my clothes, I put them on, and then looked at myself in the medicine cabinet/mirror hanging over the sink.
Fresh out of the shower, I looked a lot better. My face was surprisingly pimple-free, I couldn't help but be grateful for good genetics. My long black hair, not held back in a ponytail, hung freely around my face. It went almost down to my belly button. My clothes were torn up and had blood stains, but otherwise were okay. My gray jacket covered up my white tank top. MY black skinny jeans were pretty torn up, but it was better than walking around in my underwear.
I looked one last time into the mirror, gazing at my big, green eyes. I thought my eyes were my best quality. My brother Tyler always teased me, saying my eyes were so big, I looked like a chick from some Japanese anime.
That made me start thinking about Tyler, something I've been able to ignore for a while. Forcing back tears, I reminded myself that I wasn't even sure if he WAS dead. I hadn't found a body when I went to the school. Well, not HIS body; there were plenty of other bodies…
Pushing the thoughts out of my head, I opened the bathroom door and walked into the living room. Steve and Paul were waiting for me. I'm guessing to talk about what happened earlier…
Okay. Sorry there wasn't any action, but I needed to get the character descriptions out, like, eight chapters ago. Now you guys kind of know what they look like! YAY! There's more character depth now, too. Now Phil and Steve don't feel so much like empty characters! (:
I thought the whole 'mirror' theme would be a good way to get all this description out. Just an idea I came up with on the spot. Sorry if you guys don't like it as much as I do (:
